THE NEW LEXICON OF BÁRBARA SÁNCHEZ-KANE

“When is the next collection coming?” is the question most often posted to designer Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, whose eponymous label has become synonymous in the last decade with deconstructed garments, reconstructed brand logos, and subversive performances. But Sánchez-Kane is unsatisfied with the demands of consumerism and the biannual rhythm of runway shows, increasingly shifting his practice toward art, performance, painting, and poetry. But the brand is still central to his studio. “It remains my first tool, and one that has given me access to different spaces,” he says. The exhibition catalogue for his solo show, New Lexicons for Embodiment (presented at kurimanzutto in New York City in 2023) resembles a lookbook. The works — his experimental clothing, such as coats made of belts, or the classic SK deconstructed suits — were modeled, styled, and photographed for a zine, giving life to the garments that otherwise hung like ghosts in the gallery. Sánchez-Kane finds inspiration in his daily walks — in his hometown, Mérida, or to and from his studio in Mexico City. He specifically mentions shop vitrines and windows — “a display system to generate desire,” he says. Recently he read about the stone carvings on the Camino de Santiago depicting erotic imagery on the doors of certain churches. “These were the first billboards. It was something to erotically appeal to the mind of the Christian, to open his desire,” he says. “It’s something that marketing still does today. But perhaps it was more discreet before.”